When I first started attending a Reformed church, I remember an announcement that was made about a former member who had been excommunicated for the sin of contumacy. I had grown up in a mainline denomination where formal discipline was never spoken of, much less practiced. I was wholly unfamiliar with the process. I had never even heard of the word contumacy. When I looked it up after the service, I learned that contumacy is a stubborn refusal to submit to authority. I knew the elders to be kind, gracious, and faithful men. Even though I didn’t quite understand what was happening, it confirmed to me that this was a church that took seriously the commands of the Bible.

This episode was perhaps my first encounter with negative church discipline, which concerns the correction of church members and the administration of censures. To understand negative church discipline and how it works, we can look at one obligation, two guides, three goals, and four outcomes.

The one obligation of the church toward its members is the command of Jesus to shepherd the sheep. The prophet Ezekiel warned of bad shepherds who cared nothing for the sheep. These bad shepherds abused, neglected, used, and even devoured the sheep (Ezek. 34). By contrast, Jesus proclaimed that He is the Good Shepherd of the sheep. He would love, care for, and protect them. The Good Shepherd would lay down His life for the sheep (John 10). He would be the Good Shepherd pictured in Psalm 23, whose rod and staff would comfort the sheep. The elders of the church are the undershepherds of Christ in how they lead the congregation (1 Peter 5:1–5). This pastoral care and comfort include discipline to keep and guide the sheep.

As Ezekiel warned, shepherds can be harsh, overbearing, and abusive. We can see this in some churches even today. Scripture therefore provides two guidelines to steer church discipline away from abuse. Discipline must be guided by decency and order (1 Cor. 14:40). Formal discipline must follow the process given in Scripture. Matthew 18 gives a decent and orderly process whereby if a brother sins against you, you are to confront him privately. If he does not repent, then you are to take along one or two brothers as witnesses. If he still does not repent, then you are to take it to the church. This is done in a decent and orderly manner by giving the offender an opportunity to fairly state his case before the elders of the church. He ought to have a chance to defend himself against the charges against him. The deliberate nature of the process often takes time. Those in the midst of the process may see that as a problem, but it is a feature of the system, not a bug. We do not want such important decisions rendered hastily. Decency and order require thoughtful, patient, and measured responses. If, however, a person is found to be in sin—and especially if he is unrepentant—he is to be disciplined, possibly to the extent of excommunication.

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